It sounds like a difficult process of limited displayability, but it seems intriguing in that it appears to reproduce the color spectrum in its entirety rather than using any RGB approach. I'm interested in more details as to how it's done.
There's a PDF file from somebody in the UK about making lippman emulsion and taking color photographs on it; it even includes a sample photo of the author. I'll see if I can find it and post a link.
Okay - found it. Hans I. Bjelkhagen wrote a paper concerning Lippman photography experiments that he did. He used commercially available panchromatic holographic plates manufactured by Slavich, which are available fairly inexpensively.
Well that's pretty darn cool. I may try and get my father-in-law ( optical physicist ) to translate and see if we can set up an experiment. Thanks for the pdf.
It may also be worth it to shoot the author of the article an e-mail. He's somewhat known among the holography forums (HoloWiki and such), and is apparently receptive to questions.
I definitely support your cause, for what it's worth.
This is definitely the most intriguing color "process" out there. When I initially learned about it not more than 6 months ago I (a) didn't understand it and (b) once I did understand it couldn't believe it!!
The pictures in the PDF are pretty damn good, I'm gonna print it out and read it soon.
This company sells the plates which Bjelkhagen used for his Lippmann plates. It looks as though purchasing the PFG-03c is fairly expensive, at least for one person. The minimum quantity looks to be 25 at 237 euros (about $320) PLUS shipping I'm sure, from russia, at 3.3 kG. Probably pretty expensive.
HOWEVER, a joint purchase would make this more viable. If there's interest, let me know or PM me. I'll inquire about smaller quantities.
UPDATE: Ok, so i added it to my basket to check shipping and it doesn't offer the US as a shipping location! What a blow to our egocentricity! I'll investigate futher...... ok, done. Looks like there is a distributor in San Francisco, and the prices are more reasonable.
I've been doing quite a bit of reading on the topic. I was disheartened when I saw the price on the 4x5 PFG-03c plates. Plus these plates will fog without exposure, so you need to have a clearing brew on hand to defog them ( possibly ) prior to use. Also, while there is a fair bit of discussion about creating them ( mostly arcane & theoretical ), the people who have successfully made them are extraordinarily few and far between.
But I have not abandoned the idea of trying. What I have found is
1. You don't have to use the full color plates, you can get by with the film, but you won't get a full color spectrum ( as far as my little brain can figure ). So you could at least find out if you can get the inference pattern recorded.
2. You can't fix the plates as it will shrink/alter the inference pattern you are trying to record on the surface of the emulsion. So they have a couple developer formulas that include a bit of hypo in the developer, but you don't want the plates ( after developing ) to be in full sunlight.
3. The 10 deg Weirner prism is just a glass plate cut at a 10deg bevel, but it needs to be big enough to cover the image. It just so happens I have an assortment of these from 1 to 20deg, but they are only 1" square. I have not been able to find a source for purchasing the prisms.
4. You can make your own DCG plates. These are gelatine coated plates that you sensitize with Ammonium Dichromate. But I'm not clear as to many factors in using the DCG plates, like if they will work with the air-film reflection & how you develop the plates & if the plates need to soaked in H2O for viewing.
But, I would be interested in splitting an order of the 2 1/2" plates ( 30 for $95 ) . That way were only out $50 - $60 when/if the whole thing falls flat.
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